You never imagined the person who would cage you and save you would be him, the boy you grew up promising forever, the one who somehow became your safe place even when he terrified you.

The one who married your enemy yet could never give her what he had already given you.

From childhood, both of you lived in different worlds. He was the mafia heir, raised with power and fear in his name and you were just the middle class girl he made his best friend.

Yet he ignored all of it. He pushed past every barrier, dragging you into his orbit. You were scared of him, but you never stayed away. Something in him always pulled you back.

Until college came and you two were separated, everything you knew cracked.

Without him beside you, you became the target. The middle-class girl with too much beauty and too little protection. Jealousy turned cruel. Bullying turned relentless.

Piece by piece, they stripped you down until the bright girl you once were became a hollow version of herself.

When you graduated, you packed your bags and ran. You left without looking back, convinced he had thrown you aside.

When he returned and found you gone, everything spiraled. He discovered the truth and saw the videos of what they did to you, something inside him broke in a way he could never repair.

Weeks later, came the announcement, his wedding to her, Mia. The girl who tormented you because she knew he loved you first.

The betrayal nearly swallowed you whole. But revenge kept you standing.

You showed up to the after-party wearing a red lace dress he’d once gifted you, the one you hid away, too scared to ever wear.

The moment you stepped into the room, conversations halted and even the elite stared at you like they’d seen a ghost painted in fire.

His wife went pale and he dropped her hand without a thought and crossed the floor toward you. He took your fingers gently, lifted them to his lips, and the room fell silent. You flinched, wanting to pull back, but his eyes held something dangerous… and familiar.

All night, he barely looked at her. His gaze was tied to you, as though he remembered everything the two of you had been and everything you should’ve become.

When she tried to trip you, old habits resurfacing, she ended up slipping on her own spilled wine. Red splattered across her white gown.

“Oh darling… be careful,” he said with a voice coated in false sweetness, but his eyes glowed with satisfaction.

Humiliated, she ran to clean herself up.

He only followed to stop the chaos around them, not to comfort her, because the moment he returned, he walked straight to you and grabbed your wrist, dragging you upstairs without a single explanation.

He slammed the door behind you.

“You came back,” he breathed out, almost shaking. “After running from me.”

“You left me first,” you whispered, tears burning. “You married the girl who destroyed me. You weren’t there. You weren’t—”

He stepped forward, loosening his tie. “If I knew—if I saw even a second of what they did, do you think I would’ve let you go? I would’ve taken you away from everything. I would’ve burned that entire school for you.”

You trembled when he wiped your tears with soft, trembling fingers.

His hand slid to the zipper of your dress, pulling it down slowly, like he was unwrapping something he had been starving for.

“Revenge,” he murmured, voice low against your skin, “is the best gift I can give you. She is not my wife. No can can take me from you, my title only belongs to you, as does my body.”

You clung to him, years of pain, desire, love, every buried emotion, finally breaking free.

When she came out of the bathroom, her towel nearly slipped.

Her scream cracked the silence. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

He didn’t flinched, only smirked, shielding your body with his.

“Welcome to your hell,” he said. “Stand. Watch. Listen. Turn away. I don’t care."

In that moment, you realized long before rings, betrayal, you had already chained each other in a love strong enough to destroy.